Mary v Elizabeth: The Thistle and the Rose

Elisabeth
Tudor

Mary
Stuart

Ann Boleyn

Henry VIII

Elizabeth took over as Queen of England upon
the death of her sister, Mary Tudor, on 17 November 1558. Elizabeth, daughter of
Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn, had been despised by her half-sister, Mary, herself daughter of
Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Elizabeth was considered by many
to be the bastard child of Henry VIII as divorce was forbidden by the
Catholic Church. In January 1559 Elizabeth passed
a short Bill confirming her title in contradiction with the 1554 Act of
Succession.

"No welcome to the Queen of Scots in my realm"

Before 1560 Mary, married to the French king, had posed no threat
to Elizabeth. Mary's greedy Guise uncles had made the royal couple sign
certain dubious documents and crossed the arms of England with those of Scotland and France.
During that time, her mother Mary of Guise who still ruled in Scotland as
Regent, had had trouble with the Scottish Protestant
insurrectionists. The latter had sought help from protestant
England. This culminated in the Treaty of Edinburgh in which it was
agreed, among other things, that both French and English troops should
withdraw from Scotland, and that Mary and Francis by giving up the use of
the English arms should recognise Elizabeth's title.

As early as 1560 Mary had wanted to meet Elizabeth to discuss the Treaty of
Edinburgh. When, on her husband's death, it became clear that she should return to Scotland, Mary's Secretary Maitland of Lethington, wanted
her to travel through England
on her way to Scotland to meet Elizabeth. However, Mary had decided to travel by
sea straight to Leith. She had asked Elizabeth for safe conduct
should she be forced to land on English soil. Elizabeth's
response was "there would be no safe conduct and no welcome for the
Queen of Scots in her cousin's realm until she had fulfilled her
obligations by ratifying the Treaty (of Edinburgh) as she was in honour
bound to do". Mary replied that she was only sorry that she had
demeaned herself by asking for a passage which she did not need. The
English had not been able to prevent her voyage to France 13 years ago.

Elizabeth called her vain and inexperienced. Mary said that
she was not foolish enough to ratify a treaty which had been drawn up in
her husband's reign, without proper advice. As for the quartering of
the arms of England with those of Scotland, she said that she had then been
under the commandment of her husband and father-in-law, and since her
widowhood she had neither borne the arms nor used the title of Queen of
England.

So why stop Mary from returning to Scotland? Elizabeth was surprised
by the political acumen displayed by the young Mary. She was worried about
what this would instill in the hot-blooded Scottish warlords. She had
hoped that Mary would ratify the Treaty of Edinburgh which virtually
embodied a renunciation of the English throne. Elizabeth's intransigent
attitude gave her bad
press internationally, annoying the French and causing the Venetian
Ambassador to comment on the inhumanity of the English Queen in refusing
safe passage to "a woman, a widow, unarmed and almost banished from
home". On 16 August she had sent Mary a letter protesting her sisterly
friendship and denying that she had sent her navy to impeach her
journey. Indeed some English ships had been spotted en route.
But Mary had already left France by the time the letter arrived.

Mary of Guise

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester

Sir Nicholas Throckmorton

"So the Queen of England is to marry her
horse-keeper who has killed his wife to make room for her"

When Mary
returned to Scotland as a widow, plans for a possible husband began to
take shape. Among the suitors were Elizabeth's rejects, the
Swedish King and Philip II of Spain who had previously been married to her
sister Mary Tudor. But the alliance would have been a political one, a
union between a catholic Scottish queen and catholic Spain which scared
England. Mary saw Elizabeth as her equal and had no designs on England.
She welcomed Elizabeth's envoy assuring him that she wanted to be friends with
her cousin.

Elizabeth thought that if she could choose a husband for Mary she
would in return recognise her right as heir. Her first choice was
her favourite Robert
Dudley, a man of low birth and accused of having murdered his wife, Amy
Robsart. It seemed
that she would be Mary's friend only if she chose an Englishman and especially
not the King of Spain. Mary did have her heart set on
Spain as it would give her power against Elizabeth and John Knox who was
also trying to dictate his own choice of a husband, not to mention against the
greedy Scottish Lords who were receiving pensions from the English
government. When
Don Carlos degenerated into insanity, Elizabeth re-opened marriage
negotiations with Charles of France, probably to spoil Mary's own chances.

In June 1563, Elizabeth had written to Mary urging her to allow the
exiled Matthew of Lennox to return home to Scotland to set his affairs in
order. In May 1564 Mary agreed but then Elizabeth changed her mind
and attempted to revoke his passport. His wife, Margaret,
daughter of Margaret Tudor's second marriage, had provoked Elizabeth's
anger by trying to promote the marriage of her son, Henry Lord Darnley to Mary
in 1561. Elizabeth pretended to be offended by Mary's rejection of Dudley
whom she said she would have married herself was it not for the fact that
she had decided to end her life in virginity. She made him Earl of
Leicester to make him more attractive to Mary. But Mary later
claimed that Dudley, who had no intention either of marrying the Queen of
Scots, had secretly written to her warning her
that the whole thing was a hoax designed to make her look foolish in the
eyes of the world, and discourage more suitable suitors. Elizabeth
would ensure that Mary did not marry into another foreign power which
would have been dangerous for England. Secondly, she knew that Mary
would never accept someone of such low birth as Dudley without the sort of
collateral she was not willing to provide. But this way, she
could keep up the pretence of the negotiations. "How much better were it
that we too being Queen and so near of kin, neighbours and living in one
isle, should be friends and live together like sisters, than by strange
means divide ourselves to the hurt of us both" said Mary "the
English reputed the Scots poor but yet you have found us cumbersome
enough, we have had loss yet have taken hurt. Why may it not be
between my sister and me that we living in peace and assured friendship,
may give our minds that some notable things may be wrote by us women as by
our predecessors have been before".

Suddenly, Elizabeth gave Lord Darnley permission to travel to
Scotland. Was she deliberately throwing him across Mary's
path? Born in Yorkshire, he was technically an English
subject. His mother would remain in London as a guarantee for his
good behaviour. At the beginning, Mary and Darnley were no more than
just good friends. Finally, Elizabeth announced that she would make
no decision as to her title until she was married herself or determined
not to marry. This exasperated Mary who lost her trust in
Elizabeth. In April, Darnley fell ill with the measles and Mary
nursed him day and night. Darnley had been brought to her attention
at a moment of mounting frustration and disappointment and it is not
surprising that she saw him as an answer to her prayers. She was not
to know that under the tall and handsome exterior hid a loutish and
unstable youth with all the makings of a vindictive bully.

When Maitland travelled to London to seek Elizabeth's approval of
the marriage, she pretended to be greatly surprised and offended by the
news. She ordered to put Darnley's mother under house arrest and
said that she would send Throckmorton to Scotland to put a stop to this
nonsense. When he at long last met Mary, she proclaimed herself
surprised too as she thought that the choice of an English husband was
what Elizabeth wanted. England viewed this union with
foreboding. A match of two Tudor children was a threat to the crown,
not to mention the fact that they were both catholic. Elizabeth
ordered Darnley and his father to come home but they declined. She
then sent Lady Lennox, Darnley's mother to the Tower.

Mary fell out with both her half-brother James Stuart and Maitland
over the Darnley affair and they were given asylum by Elizabeth after the
failure of the Chaseabout Raid. Had Elizabeth foreseen all
this but misjudged Mary's fearlessness? Anxious to keep face as usual, she
solemnly rebuked James for the sin of rebellion against his Sovereign
Lady.

Phillip II of Spain

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley & his brother Charles

James Stuart, Earl of Moray

"The Queen of Scots is lighter of a fair son and I am but
barren stock"

After the Rizzio murder Mary
eventually reconciled with Moray and Anglo-Scottish relations improved
again. Mary wrote to Elizabeth asking her to be godmother to her
child. Elizabeth's reaction to the news of the birth of Mary's child
was: "The Queen of Scots is lighter of a fair son but I am but barren
stock". The matter of the succession became clearer with the
birth of Mary's son but Elizabeth still did not marry and still refused to
name an heir. To her Parliament who tried to use financial pressure
she retorted" "Though I be a woman, I have as good a courage
answerable to my place as ever my father had. I am your anointed
Queen, I will never be by violence constrained to do anything."
Her obstinacy led to revolt after revolt and raised constitutional
issues. Finally, giving way to pressure, she reached the compromise
that the House of Commons would drop the question in exchange for their
freedom of speech.

Meanwhile, Mary was desperate to rid herself of her useless and
vindictive husband Darnley: "As for the King our husband,

Some evidence that James Stuart (Mary's half-brother) was in close
touch with the English government and that he would not have been sorry if
Mary had not made it back to Scotland. However, there is nothing to
suggest that anything was plotted at the time.

Sent emissary to England to get Elizabeth to recognize her right as
heir to the throne of England, which except for Henry's will and her
religion would have been her right. But next heir in line was Lady
Catherine grey, (sister of Lady Jane Grey) her great-niece. But
Elizabeth sent her to the Tower. Elizabeth responded by being
suitably vague saying that "she was of blood of England and her
nearest kinswoman so that she was bound by nature to love her and even in
the time of most offence, when Mary by bearing her arms and claiming the
title of my crown should give me just cause to be most angry with her, yet
could I never find it in my heart to hate her, imputing rather the thought
to others than to herself; as for the title of my crown, for my time I
think she will not obtain it nor make impediment to my issue if any shall
come out of my body for long as I live there shall be no other Queen of
England but I."

She said to Maitland who suggested that settling the question of
the succession would cement the friendship she retorted: "Think you
that I might love my own dwinding sheet? I know the inconsistency of
the people of England, how they ever mislike the present government and
have their eyes fixed on the person that is next to succeed and naturally
men be so disposed". Allusion to how eager her people had been
to replace her sister Mary Tudor with herself.

Mary replied: "We will do all that in reason may be required
or rather enter into a new one such as may stand without prejudice in
favour of you and the lawful issue of your body provided that our interest
to that crown failing yourself and the said issue may be put in good
surety".

May 1562 - Mary sent Maitland down for an invitation. June
friendly letter from Elizabeth, meeting scheduled for September in
Nottingham but had to be cancelled because of events in France.
Catherine of Medici and Huguenots against House of Guise = Protestant
French looking to Elizabeth for help while Catholics turned to
Spain. Mary burst into a flood of tears on hearing the news.
Debatable whether Elizabeth would not have found another excuse anyway not
to meet her cousin. Mary stayed neutral in the French
conflict. In fact, it was that summer that she travelled north and
dealt with the rebellious and Catholic Lord Huntly. Elizabeth
apologised to Mary for helping the Huguenots saying that she was only
showing herself as being a good neighbour. She fell seriously ill
with an attack of small pox. The English Council was thrown into panic not
being able to decide on who should succeed Elisabeth should she die.
The pressure to name an heir now came from a different corner. But
Elizabeth did not suffer anybody else to meddle with her right to make
that decision. By 1563 she still had not made up her mind but many
were against Mary. It was never forgotten that some 20 years
earlier, the Scots had rejected a possible union between Mary and Edward,
the son of Henry VIII on the grounds that an English king was unacceptable
to the Scots.

Female rivalry

Elizabeth asked Melville who was tallest, fairest to which he
replied that Elizabeth was the fairest in England and Mary in
Scotland. But that was no enough for the jealous Elizabeth who then
asked Melville who was of the highest stature. Melville had to admit
that it was Mary. She retorted that she must then be too high for
she was neither too high nor too low. She then wanted to know how
Mary passed her time. Melville explained that she liked to read good
books when she had the time and sometimes played on the lute. Also
wanted to know who danced better.